January 13, 2023
Contact: Jessica Morgan, Director of Communications
509-836-8703
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Director District Boundary Changes Proposed
Affects school board elections only, not schools
Sunnyside, Wash. – Every ten years, after each U.S. Census is completed, school districts must review the boundaries of their board of director districts to ensure equitable geographic representation. Sunnyside School District is divided into five geographic regions or districts, one for each board seat. Candidates for school board must run for the seat of the director district they live in. By creating five equal director districts, geographic diversity is ensured on the school board. Each position is elected by all district voters, so each of the five directors represents the entire district in their board actions.
These boundaries are completely unrelated to school attendance boundaries: this process will not change any neighborhood school boundaries.
In October 2021, the district contracted with Sammamish Data Systems to develop a proposal for new director district boundaries based on the latest census data. Since the last realignment of director districts, there has been a substantial shift in population growth. Currently, our director districts vary in population from a low of 4615 in District 4 to a high of 5101 in District 1.
The proposed new director district boundaries would balance these populations so that all five districts would have approximately 4939 residents.
|
District
|
Current Population
|
Population under the proposal
|
|
1st
|
5101
|
4939
|
|
2nd
|
4750
|
4939
|
|
3rd
|
5301
|
4939
|
|
4th
|
4615
|
4939
|
|
5th
|
4929
|
4939
|
A presentation and public hearing on this proposal will be held at the January 26, 2023 school board meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Current and proposed maps are also available on the district website, www.sunnysideschools.org. The first reading of the proposal and potential adoption of the proposal is scheduled for the January 26, board meeting.